Doh – to see the importance of numbers, read any of RobS' posts. Various claims unsubstantiated by numerical information. If only he looked up some numbers we'd be able to know if what he says is right or not.

scargill started an illegal strike that none repeat none of the miners where allowed to vote in

That's not true. There were regional ballots. And it was Joe Gormley, Scargill's right-wing predecessor, who established that the balloting rule wasn't necessary. A decision which was backed up by the courts.

" Another key issue is that two ballots of the NUM membership rejected these reforms, and Gormley responded by declaring productivity schemes to now be an issue for the regional committees to decide, with or without a regional ballot. When this was challenged in the high court as a violation of union rules, the court upheld Gormley's decision."

The British courts ruled that whether or not industrial action was to be taken, was up to the regional committees, what ever the results of a strike ballot. Scargill acted both within the union rules, and the law of the land.

His argument for not holding a national ballot was that they were 'all in it together' and even if one region such as Notts was against the strike (because their pits weren't threatened) they couldn't undermine the strike for the others. Plus regions such as Notts would have their pits threatened later (which they were) Of course Thatcher changed the law, and when the strike was almost a year old, the courts declared it illegal ordering them back to work, which they initially refused to do.

unfortunately in tropical regions the carbon released in dam flooding can be greater than that ever saved by the water

That must be a barmy Autumn your having in the UK if you think that this is a concern! I can't see why that would be relevant to the problem of the UK. Hydo provides a large portion of New Zealand's electricity and they are quite mindful of enviromental issues, or so they would have us believe.